Ms. Duval ends three years as SRP Coordinator

by Brittany Cheng '13

Senior Research Project (SRP) Coordinator Elizabeth Duval will no longer teach SRP after the end of this semester, citing her newborn child as the reason for leaving her position. "I have been told that mixing a baby with SRP is difficult," she explained. "Before, I would just take a Saturday to edit papers. But now, the constant flux of grading and turnaround time for entering competitions like Intel makes it even more difficult."

Although her schedule for next year has not been finalized yet, Duval was confident that the position will be in good hands. "I know Ms. Bosse will be doing SRP B [for the current juniors]," she said.

Instead of SRP, Duval believed that she will continue to teach other classes in the Magnet next year. "I suspect I'll still have entomology and some of the [biology] classes," she suggested of a possible schedule.

Duval originally took over as the coordinator of the Magnet staple class back in the 2009-10 school year when long-time magnet teacher, Susan Ragan, announced her retirement. In the time that Ms. Duval has taught SRP, Magnet students have continued their success in regional and national competitions. Yifan Li '10 and Frederic Koehler '12 were named Finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search. James Pinkerton '11 and Rafael Setra '11 won Third Place at the Siemens Competition National Finals, Blair's best ever result in that competition. Dozens of students
were named semifinalists in Intel and Siemens, and many more won honors
at the County Science Fair and JSHS.

In the three years she has been teaching the class, Duval has grown fond of its structure and atmosphere. "The most fun part for me is the nature of SRP because it lets you know the students better," she said. "It's so individualized with lots of one on one time." According to Duval, another perk of being the teaching SRP was that she got to have students for multiple years, such as in sophomore biology and SRP during junior year. "I'll miss the continuous run of students," she said. "You really know [them] by the end."